What I’m about to write isn’t designed to gain more views or to offend anyone. It’s not been written to be controversial as nothing I write is meant in that way. I simply write what I believe and do so from the heart. What I sometimes say is often not what the majority might believe but then the majority spend their time on facebook and think the Spurs customer service is fantastic.
In the last 24 hours a couple of things have annoyed me so in the style of Victor Meldrew I’m going to exorcise those demons here. That’s what a blog is all about after all.
Lennon / Redknapp
Is Redknapp loved as much as many believe? I don’t think so. Of course there’s the fall-out of the result at Real Madrid as any 4-0 defeat will bring. The majority of it focused on Peter Crouch and Aaron Lennon for obvious reasons and some linked it back to Redknapp. I’ve never made me feelings towards a man who stated all Spurs fans were racist scum while in charge of Portsmouth a secret or the fact I believe he’s taken us as far as he can. I’ve always been honest to say what he’s achieved in a short period of time has been fantastic but by the same token if it was down to him we got into the top 4 last season it’s surely down to him if we don’t this?
Anyway, it seems more and more people are starting to feel a similar way. On Saturday as I stand in the Bell & Hare garden, beer in my hand and discussing all things Spurs, this conversation will no doubt come up and I can guarantee the split between love him and hate him will be very close to 50/50.
As the story goes, a pheasant was standing in a field chatting to a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of yonder tree”, sighed the pheasant, “but I haven’t got the energy”. Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients”. The pheasant pecked at a lump of dung and found that it actually gave him enough strength to reach the first branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch and so on. Finally, after a fortnight, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree, whereupon he was spotted by a farmer who dashed into the farmhouse, emerged with a shotgun, and shot the pheasant right out of the tree.
Moral of the Story: Bullsh*t might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there. Is it time up Harry?
The above was posted on this sites forum by Kevin Jones so I thought I’d steal it for the purposes on this update. The one thing he’s got going for him is the supposed fantastic man management skill of his. His ability to put an arm around a players shoulder to make them play better, but is this actually true? Of course players like Frank Lampard are going to say what a great manager he was at West Ham, after all they’re family. Why wouldn’t Defoe say he loves working with him when he gets selected even when he’s clearly been terrible this season?
Then onto yesterday’s comments on twitter from Aaron Lennon after Redknapp had said this in his post match interview:
“We lost Aaron Lennon a minute before kick-off. As we were walking to the pitch he didn’t feel very well and he said he had no energy. I had to make a change as we were leaving the dressing room.”
It gave the impression Azza hadn’t informed the club he was ill and had “bottled it” as some suggested. His reply to these suggestions was:
“saying i fell ill before the game is bullsh*t. I fell ill on sunday morning where the medical team put me on antibiotics, but only got worse before Tuesday. Believe me this is one game I didn’t want to miss and still devastated now!!!! but will not be made a scapegoat saying they only knew just before kick off”
It’s something I’m sure you’ve read or heard about by now. The bit I’m interested about is how Lennon uses the term “they” with obvious reference to Redknapp and his team and the fact he felt so disappointed with his managers public dealing with the situation as he passed the buck he felt he had to go public himself. Now I’m all for players on social networks because it gives us fans something to talk about and a little insight into their lives (although with the majority it’s only a let down), but this throws up the question of communication within the club and between players and the manager they’re all meant to love so dearly doesn’t it? Another example of this was when van der Vaart disappeared down the tunnel after being substituted and when asked if it had been discussed with his manager he said no because he hadn’t even seen the manager between then and leaving for International duty. Seems a little strange to me half way through a game.
There are whispers of a meeting between Redknapp and the board recently where they discussed their surprise at not being in the top 4. Before this becomes another debate on whether we should be there or not, the board clearly feel we should (if this meeting happened of course). Redknapp has made slight reference to it himself about if he’s not appreciated at board level he should be when you consider top 4 last season, 2 points from 8 games, champions league quarter finals etc etc. Their point being was similar to mine that when you look at the quality of our team, the transfer finds that HAVE been made available and the teams above us we should be in the top 4 at the moment and not looking to go on an amazing run to get there.
Comments of his activity in the market were brought up, or lack of and more importantly the type of players he’s been looking at. It’s no secret it was Redknapp who decided to walk away from any potential deal for Suarez because he felt the Uruguayan was no better than our current forward. The best signings in his tenure have arguably been Sandro and vdV, neither he had a hand in. Gallas on a free would probably be his best signing to this point.
They also pointed out his lack of faith in Gareth Bale only 2 years ago. Looking back 16 months he was close to allowing Bale to move from the club until an injury to Ekotto curtailed that deal being done. Other loan deals were discussed in particular deals that have resulted in a lack of depth to cover injuries. When you consider we had no right midfielder to replace Lennon on Tuesday night and we might be without a proper right back on Saturday you can see where they’re coming from.
I have it on pretty good authority that this meeting did take place and these were the points discussed. Given certain comments from members of the press and especially Redknapp in post match interviews I have no doubt in my mind.
Whether he should feel unappreciated is another matter of course. Personally, I appreciate what he’s done at the club. I do appreciate the turn around in the clubs fortune since he arrived and I do appreciate playing in the Bernabéu even if we did get a thumping. It’s clear to see though that not all is well at White Hart Lane, whether that’s in the stands, dressing room or at board level. I wonder if Mr Redknapp wasn’t such a media darling and the odds on favourite for the England job whether we’d see more of this kind of thing surface in the red tops?
Spurs Fans Racist
Let’s get one thing straight shall we? I’m not racist. Never have been and never will be. Is there racism in football? Yes, and loads of it. However, I’ve only ever heard one genuinely racist comments at a football match which immediately after it was said myself and those around me put the gentleman in question straight with his remarks.
In today’s papers we once again have the subject of a song sung by Spurs fans as being racist. This is something that infuriates me because I don’t believe it is. It’s not a nice song as anything which says someone else’s mum is a whore isn’t going to be meant in a friendly way. This isn’t the line that’s caused the issue though, it’s the fact the line preceding that makes reference to his dad washing elephants. This is the racist part, or at least in some people’s eyes.
I don’t and have never sang this song. Not because I find it offensive or believe it’s not politically correct but because I never sing any non Spurs song unless we’re playing that team. For example, stand up if you hate Arsenal only comes out of my mouth during north London derbies. Having not been present at a NLD in a decade I’ve never seen Adebayor play but I’m sure if I had I would’ve sung that song, after all the bastard has a knack of scoring against us so he will have our attention.
My point on why I believe it not to be racist is because similar racial stereotypes are sung about players throughout the country. What isn’t acceptable is monkey noises etc. In fact, let me rephrase that, what everyone agrees that isn’t acceptable is monkey noises etc. The reason the song is a problem to some is because Adebayor is black. It’s as simple as that which in itself is very racist. Sticking with Spurs fans we sing an anti Berbatov song too which follows similar lines and yet because he’s white and from an eastern European country no-one mentions that.
Maybe if Berba made a statement and complained about it the papers would write a story but I doubt it. The only reason it’s been picked up and spurs fans are being tarnished in a poor light by some members of the press is because Adebayor mentioned it. A black sportsman mentions racism and it’s a big story. The song is without doubt playing on a racial stereotype which of course is wrong but the same can be said about the same song with differing lyrics sung by fans who like him that mentions Ade’s rather larger gentlemans area. Another racial stereotype that doesn’t seem to bother him. Why not?
I come from the West Country for my sins and while my accent isn’t even close to the Wurzels thanks to time spent in London and my mum slapping me every time I said something like “gert lush” when I was kid, when I’m back in Tottenham it’s been known for friends of mine to call me farmer boy. That’s a massive racial stereotype but I don’t consider it racist. Depending on who said it and in what tone they used I would most definitely consider it offensive but that’s two very different things.
I’m not even going to mention the songs that make reference to spurs fans not having foreskin or chelsea fans making hissing noises at every game because what’s the point? It’s not big and it’s not clever, we all know that but it’s also not a story because it’s directed towards mostly white Englishman who can never suffer from racism. Double standards? You’re damn right it is.
Make all racial stereotypes racist and punishable by all means. That isn’t the argument and I don’t think anyone with half a brain would argue if authorities did that. Thankfully, UEFA and the Crown Prosecution Service realise the song has no racist connotations and will therefore not be fining the club and confirming Adebayor and certain members of the presses beliefs. It’s just a pity comments and column inches are forced to be revoked and apologies issued because with many things people believe what they read in the press and I for one don’t want my football club to become synonymous with racism.
COYS
PS. I haven’t had time to proof read this so I hope there’s not too many typos or just plain old spelling mistakes.
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The first part, I have heard (and yes I am aware how idiotically ITK that makes me sound) that there have been a number of such meetings, look at the betting markets last week when it became clear that something was happening, the one thing is the bookies are rarely wrong, so if they slash odds a manager leaving from 100-1 to 8-1 that means something has happened.
Something is up – and that is obvious in many many ways and statements, leaks, player interviews and twitter and so on – quite what it is I don’t know, but there is something wrong and if the club doesn’t fix it summer could be horrible for us.
The second point, I have written my bit up separately
Articulate, well reasoned and believable article.
At a time when real support is required, it’s also disloyal, unsupportive, unhelpful and miserably negative.
I’ve been questioning Harry for a good few months now.
We need a striker but he believe’s Defoe and Crouch are the answer. Both are in there peak years and look at there records? I’m happy for them to be squad players but you wont win major honours with them up front. Look at the teams linked to Bale, Modders, VDV etc…..I hear very little about Defoe and Crouch so are other teams wrong?
During the window we require a striker. Harry decides to court Beckham (36 years old + only available for 2 months) so what was the point? We got Pienner who is a good free transfer but he will not push us to the next level.
Finally i see Harry on ITV last night, doing WII adverts with his famiy , doing his Sun column and giving endless quotes to the media (ex. “we can win the league”…..”it’s tough to get away wins”…..”we will struggle to get 4th”) so the question has got to be how comes he has so mcuh time on his hands? Do see Fergie/Wenger doing all this!!
I do believe Harry has taken us a far as he can. The majority of the team were not his buys and i believe he is still stuck in ‘little team’ syndrome.
This kind of article gets us nowhere. The Lennon incident is unfortunate but seems blown out of proportion, And the Adebayor “song” -racist or not, and if i were Adebayor I’d say it was – has no place in today’s society and perpetrators should be punished. I read the club may be fined for the behavior of these sickos and no doubt Levy will try to see that furure offenders are identified and disciplined.
The whole tone of the article sounds like sour grapes for me.
You had me taking this seriously until you started trying to base assumptions on using Azza’s grammar. He is after all well known for his use of the English accent and im sure he pays specific attention to detail to his tenses and collective terminologies.
To be honest, i find articles written purely based on assumptions more damaging than a board meeting. Especially ITK’s…. always there to hype things up and bring everyone down in constant disproportion to the realities of whats going on. I guess the public are suckers for it so what can you do. Its just a shame spurs fans have become so spoilt and cant see how good we actually have it.
I’m depressed.
I can’t read the minds of the people singing the Adebayor song but if you chant about a black guy’s dad washing elephants you can hardly be surprised if that’s what you get accused of. It makes me embarrassed to support the same team as those singing.
Great article Tom. However I copied that off a colleague of mine yesterday so can’t take credit!
@dudu “You had me taking this seriously until you started trying to base assumptions on using Azza’s grammar.” – Fair point and taken.
This is how see it. Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse. When you’re chewing on life’s gristle
Don’t grumble, give a whistle, and this’ll help things turn out for the best…
To others, why is it when someone discusses the merits of Harry Redknapp it’s seen as being negative and detrimental to the club? There’s no logic in that reasoning.
There are arguments for and against the job he’s done at the club but the fact of the matter is, all pro arguments are past tense and have been for the majority of this season with the exception of some very good champions league performances and results.
The simple facts are, more and more people are questioning goings on at the club. This wouldn’t be happening if everything was right. I’m also sick and tired of being told because I believe we have a team that should be comfortably in the top 4 that I’m being unrealistic etc. I’m making my own opinions based on what I watch every week, not basing them on what Harry Redknapp tells me to think.
nobody used to give a toss about what anybody sang about, everyone just laughed it off. Didnt matter if you were black or white, no-one took any notice of it until these stupid useless politically correct left wingers came along. Thank f..k I dont live in the UK anymore, I´d probably get arrested every day of the week. What a bunch of sad c….s my countrymen have become.
Add to this the fact that Redknapp appears in court this summer over tax evasion charges. He wouldn’t be there if there wasn’t a case to answer, and there must be a 50-50 chance of him being convicted. In which case it would be difficult for the board to retain him. His ever increasing media activity can only mean less focus on his main employer – THFC. No wonder there are rumours.
drwinston001 – we are all entitled to an opinion, yes. But whenever someone is criticising Harry, it is usually prefixed or suffixed with “Harry out” in some form. It comes across too extreme. The guy has been in the job slightly over 2 years. For anyone to suggest that he has done a bad job is laughable. For someone to say that he has taken us as far as he can – may well be true – but you cannot possibly know that yet in 2 years. So he obviously needs a bit of backing to see what he does yet. Each season has shown a growth in the stature of the club: Premier league surivival – Highest premier league finish and CL qualification – CL quarter finalist. Until I see a noticeable dip in progress, I am going to take the positives over the negatives. There will always be negatives, but they are relatively minor compared to the uncharted territory that we are exploring right now. You sat that the merits are past tense….what – less than a year ago? Yes, Harry is not immune from criticism, but when I hear him critcised, I hear the same isolated things: “failure to get striker” (may not be Harry’s fault. Levy perhaps, credit crunch), “lose to bottom half” (all teams lose to bottom half – Arsenal did, Chelsea). Yes these are all things to wonder about, but these things do not require a change in manager to achieve. Also I get the sense that people forget that with most change of managers, Spurs have gone either downwards or sideways. Given the standard now set, we need to stick with Harry for now, to be sure that we are not being hasty
The song is clearly racist and has no place in modern life. I’ve been at games when Chelsea or leeds have hissed or sung songs about Belsen and there has been uproar among fans to me the song is NO different. The west country is clearly not a race so being called farmer boy is not racist at all, I despair at the lack of understanding of the language which leads to people making such laughable comments.
Rich, you’re right being called a farmer boy or such like is not racist. It can be described as a stereotype though as is a song that assumes if you’re from Africa your parents wash elephants etc. If you believe hissing is on the same level as that song then it’s my turn to despair. Am I saying the song is fine? No. As I said I have never sung it but it is no different to derogatory songs sung in every stadium across the land that don’t relate to people from Africa. They’re equally as bad but people, including yourself I’m sure will have sung them at some point because they relate perhaps to berbatov who being White is deemed as different, which it’s not.
If the majority consider the Adebayor song racist then so are many others. I’m fine with all being banned but they will not only not be banned, they won’t be discussed or reported on, just like the hissing which even thfc say never happens. If you’ve ever screamed at a player for “rolling around like a girl” you’re being sexist which is again no different but society and in particular the press, pc brigade and people like yourself who enjoy sitting on that high horse don’t consider to be wrong.
If this story was a full story about racism, sexism, homophobic etc chants within football I’d be all for it but to for the second time concentrate on one group of fans and say we’re racist is a disgrace
I think the author put a lot of thought into what he writes, and although I might not agree with everything he says, most of it I do.
And I must say it is extremely refreshing to read all of the intelligent comments here with absoloutely no profanity that I could see. If this is due to this site refusing to publish this and personal attacks, more power to them.
Good artical mate – you did a good job. I agree with alot of things you said. COME ON YOU SPURS!
It comes with the terrotory really…Rednapp opts to use arguably the least esteemed of all daily smut rags (the sun)to play his media hand…deep down, i reckon he has done as much as he can with us. The amount of time he dedicates to conferences -radio shows and news papers is in stark contrast to that of all the managers which currently surround him …Ferguson-Mancini-ancelotti even dare is sa ‘the fraggle’ all have one thing in common…class! Rednapp does nothing to endear himself to us, evrery chance he gets he speaks sarcastically/dismissively of our wants or needs. Needless to say he has previous in the ‘anti spurs fan’ stakes..Funnily enough the media speak of our 2 points from 8 games, always,always without mentioning that we finished back to back seasons in 5th. I am a lifetime spurs fan, never have supported Harry, judt respected his tenureship as an external member of the faith…club first!!!!
COYS
Drwinston001..Thank goodness for people like you that actually put some perspective in what really is a trivial matter.It’s almost like this pc brigade and their preachings is counter productive and does more harm.Respect is earnt as it should be,I ask you who do you have more respect for,the female linesman who Richard keys rang up to apologise to,and who ostensibly was very gracious about the whole thing,or someone like Karren Brady who is waiting for an opportunity to spout her vitriol??
With fans like you my beloved Tottenham don’t deserve success.
Don’t worry i don’t think it will happen,
Utter tosh. We played above ourselves last season, and are now having trouble keeping that form going while also playing in the Champs League. That’s not the manager’s fault, that’s just the way of things.
And we have had the terrible luck of playing in the Champs League in the same season that Man City have finally got some of their star players to gel. We simply don’t have the spending power of the current top 4, or the same number of quality players. Yes, Chelsea have had a poor season, but they’re still better than us.
Redknapp is not beyond criticism. But then neither are some of our “star” players. To someone who hasn’t attended a north london derby in a decade, I say, maybe you should get down the lane more often rather than analysing our problems from your armchair.
Your blogs contain more hot air than one of Huddlestone’s post-dinner farts.
And out of the woodwork they wriggle and form an orderly queue, like Jol and Ramos, the backbiters and snides wait for an opportunity to gnaw away. There isnt a single ounce of realism anywhere in this article. We’re playing catch up, we’re playing 20 bloody years of catch up. We’re competing against multi billion pound organizations and Oligarchs, who can afford to spend 75 million pound on two players,TWO players!! FFS and HOPE they’ll come good. Our demise was having a chairman (Scholar), who did a Leeds, but fortunately Sugar rescued the club, but also sent it into mediocrity for two decades almost. This regime has through trial and error; managed to get us on a firm footing and compete for the first time in a long time, and still you bitch, you bitch about moving to a profitable stadium where at least we’ll be in a position to sustain success, instead of praying for player loyalty and still you bitch about a guy (who incidentally I didn’t want as manager in the first place) but i have the balls to say that in spite of all thats against us, he and ENIC have worked miracles, and Thanks for at least making us competetitive again!, oh its called support if you need to look it up sometime!
Ah gentlemen. Please don’t question my support. By all means make other suggestions and say you don’t agree with what I say but just because I’m unable to attend midweek and Sunday games doesn’t mean my support is any less than yours. The fact I attend approximately 15 games a season, home and away, the majority of them being against the likes of Stoke, Birmingham, West Brom etc seems to have been wasted on you. I could say because I attend mainly Cat C games without the Cat A or Champions League games makes me a bigger supporter than someone who only manages to get to the Lane for the visits of Arsenal, Chelsea, United etc, however I don’t believe that’s the case so I wouldn’t be childish enough to suggest such a thing.